The Raiders' pass protection, anchored by former B.C. Rain High School standout Rodney Hudson at center, has allowed Carr to be sacked only 12 times in Oakland's 12 games, the fewest in the NFL this season.

The Chiefs' 26-10 victory on Oct. 16 started Ford rocketing up the NFL's sacks list. The former St. Clair High School and Auburn star had 1.5 sacks in Kansas City's first four games. Starting with the win over Oakland, he recorded 8.5 sacks in five games.

But on Nov. 20, Ford left the Chiefs' game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a hamstring injury and missed the next game on Nov. 27. He came back on Sunday to play 26 snaps against the Atlanta Falcons and does not appear on the injury report for the rematch with the Raiders.

Oakland visits Kansas City on Thursday night to kick off Week 14 of the NFL's 2016 season with an AFC West showdown.

The Raiders haven't lost since the previous game against Kansas City, reeling off six wins in a row. The Chiefs have gone 6-1 since beating Oakland. The Raiders lead the AFC West with a 10-2 record, the Chiefs are one game back at 9-3 and the Denver Broncos are breathing down their necks at 8-4.

Carr has had the time to turn in an MVP-caliber season, a component of which has been throwing to wide receiver Amari Cooper. The former Alabama star caught 10 passes for 129 yards in the earlier meeting with Kansas City. With 19 more receiving yards, Cooper will become the ninth player in NFL history with 1,000 in each of his first two seasons.

NBC and NFL Network will televise the Raiders-Chiefs game at 7:25 p.m. CST Thursday from Arrowhead Stadium, giving viewers the opportunity to see how the players deal with the elements. Temperature at kickoff is predicted to be 19 degrees in Kansas City with a wind chill between 0 and 8 degrees.

The other nationally televised games on the Week 14 schedule are the Dallas Cowboys-New York Giants at 7:30 p.m. Sunday on NBC and the Baltimore Ravens-New England Patriots at 7:30 p.m. Monday on ESPN.

On broadcast TV on Sunday, the state's CBS affiliates will have split coverage at noon, with the Birmingham and Huntsville markets getting the Denver Broncos-Tennessee Titans game and the southern half of the state getting the Pittsburgh Steelers-Buffalo Bills game.

FOX has the Sunday doubleheader. The state's affiliates will show the Washington Redskins-Philadelphia Eagles game at noon, although viewers in the Columbus, Ga., market will be able to see the San Diego Chargers-Carolina Panthers game. For the second game at 3:25 p.m., the Mobile market will have the New Orleans Saints-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game while the rest of the state's FOX affiliates will broadcast the Atlanta Falcons-Los Angeles Rams game.

Sunday's San Diego Chargers-Carolina Panthers contest normally would be a solid State of Alabama Game of the Week. The teams have 12 players on their rosters from Alabama high schools and colleges. But the Cincinnati Bengals-Cleveland Browns Battle of Ohio outdoes it.

The Bengals and Browns have 15 players with Alabama football roots on their rosters, including seven former Auburn players and Trae Elston, who signed with Cleveland on Wednesday. Elston, a rookie safety from Oxford High School, went to training camp with the New Orleans Saints and spent about a month on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' practice squad.